Kitchen Worktops.

[SnickersWasAHorse]

I'm really stuck about kitchen work tops.
I don't really want to say what I do or don't like as I would like some honest opinions.

What do you have? Would you recommend it?

We have wood (beech I think). I really like it as it's easy on the eye and not too clinical looking. Obviously we don't put hot pans on it and we use a chopping board etc but after 18 years it still looks good as new apart from a dark watermark to one side of the sink where the wet sponge/cloth gets left, and even that could be sanded/oiled (if we could be bothered)

Was all set for silestone then the supplier had a mirrored quartz in stock that they could sell me way cheaper.

I truly love it, mostly because it requires zero buffing or shining or special polish or anything.

Sorry if I'm hijacking but for those who've chosen silestone/quartz, can anyone recommend a good supplier? We're probably going with an IKEA kitchen that our builder would fit - in SE London...

Does Silestone cost all of the money?

I used to have oak. Loved the look of it but it stained very easily and wasn't compatible with our family life.

Next new kitchen I had black granite. Loved it and never had any problems with staining or maintenance and it always looked "expensive".

Now another new kitchen and I have white quartz. I would happily have had the black granite again but this kitchen is quite dark so I've gone with white units and white worktop. I wasn't sure when I ordered it but now I'm delighted, and have no problem at all keeping it looking beautiful. Bar Keeper's Friend is magic, if there's a tough stain on it.

I can tell you which company NOT to use though ... It is unbelievably badly fitted and the owner was a clown.

Laminate = a budget choice, but can still look good (if not wow) and easy to clean etc. Just don't put a mega-hot pan on it; use a trivet instead. You can't go wrong.

Wood = looks lovely, but prone to water damage around sinks. If you have two separate areas of worktop, you can have the area around the sink as another worktop and wood elsewhere.

Quartz (brand names include Silestone) = beautiful, tough surface. As it's a composite material, you can be sure of the colour/design you're getting. A good choice, but not cheap, so you've got to love it.

Granite = reasonably tough, but as it's a natural product, you have to be a little bit careful in cleaning up spills. Don't use bleach! The natural variation in the stone will mean that every worktop is unique. I think it looks beautiful and I love the randomness of the pattern.

Personally, I'm going for granite because I love the look. But if I thought I would be less careful in the kitchen, I would go for one of the quartz options. And if I wasn't going mad with my (expensive) plans, I would be happy enough with laminate I'm sure.

All this after reading many-a MN thread over the past year.

Polished black galaxy granite. Looks amazing and so easy to keep clean. Spray with stone cleaner and dry with a microfibre cloth.

I've just had a new kitchen fitted and in the end went for quartz (apparently an "own brand" version of Silestone). It was £2.2k v circa £300 for the laminate - so a HUGE difference - but I love it. It looks fabulous and I'm so pleased I went for this in the end.

We've just had new kitchen installed with wood effect laminate tops.... Cypress Cinnamon they're called. They look great with the new gloss white cupboards.

Granite - totally love the natural randomness and its extremely easy to maintain.

Good quality laminate for us. Originally I planned quartz, but to be honest it just does nothing for me personally that would justify the cost. I thought I'd love it and hate the laminate (we have terrible laminate currently) but then seeing the laminate options I realised I'd rather have the difference in cost and spend it on kitchen touches I'd actually appreciate. I'm actually really excited by my laminate!

Silestone-Lagoon
Absolutely love it...

I have a version of quartz called Schock I don't think it is available any more, but it has been amazing .

It was fitted 15 years ago and has worn amazingly well. No maintenance, no chips or cracks, no stains.

During that time it has been heavily used by myself and several (careless) teenagers.

I would choose the same again without hesitation.

We have gone for laminate from axiom. They say that they use a larger template for their laminates to avoid pattern repeats.

We currently have laminate and haven't had any of the problems mentioned on here.

I like the look of wood but I don't want to look after it.

We're doing our kitchen in a few weeks and have decided to go with quartz. We were originally going to have laminate but we're having a waterfall edge so would have been to much opportunity for water penetration with laminate.

We ummed and ahed for bloody ages but in the end we've gone for an oak effect laminate from Benchmarx (I think it's called canyon). We've got 3 small dcs and a very busy life so really needed something very hard wearing. I'd have loved quartz / granite but we're doing a fuckton of work and we just didn't have the budget.

I was initially against laminate but couldn't believe how good a lot of them looked. I think the design and technology has come on in leaps and bounds.

Our Silestone came from a company called Rock Revelations. They did a great job and work all over the country

I'm looking for a new worktop. Had granite in our old house which I loved but it was darkish so didn't show any stains. Want a light one here. BUT Scared of red wine/curry absorbing into granite. Don't want Quartz as don't want to bother with skillets for hot trays/saucepans. Difficult 1st world decisions.

Someone recommended Dekton so I'm going to check that out next week.

We're planning on granite, either blue or emerald pearl or something black with more variation if we can afford it. Our blue pearl table has withstood years of abuse, curries, hot pans, etc.